The heads of the traditional Austrian parties, the Social Democrats and the Austrian People’s Party, could teach their cousins in the Czech Republic a thing or two about what it’s like when parties lose power and voter support, and populist movements of various colours jostle to get into parliament. Although the results of September’s parliamentary […]

At Brunnenmarkt in Ottakring you can get a kilo of ripe tomatoes or juicy peaches for €1 – a decent price, that makes Brunnenmarkt and nearby Yppenplatz popular with immigrants and young hipsters who enjoy their late-afternoon breakfast at one of the market restaurants. Its melting pot character has also made the area a battleground […]

The German saying “Man soll den Tag nicht vor dem Abend loben” (“Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched”) proved true once again on 29 September. Both Social Democrats (SPÖ) and Conservatives (ÖVP), while still victorious, had to face major losses. But unlike other EU countries, the Austrian coalition was not voted out. With […]

If it weren’t for all the posters splashing the heads of party frontrunners around the city, few would notice that it’s election time in Austria. In the scorching heat of recent weeks, electoral campaigns have had a very slow start. On 29 September, voters will go to the polls and choose which party or parties […]

A hundred years ago, in 1913, there were 2.1 million people in Vienna, larger than the 1.7 who live here today – as mix of Serbs an, Poles, Turks, Hungarians, and of course, Germans, who represent the largest immigrant group in Vienna and Austria today. Austria, which stretched from Lake Constance to the Black Sea […]

Stronach’s Gloss and Glory, 5 March by Michael Völker All together 130,000 people in Lower Austria and Carinthia voted this Sunday [3 March] for Team Stronach. That is indeed a strong showing. Even prior to the elections, this ‘test-tube’ party was, in fact, able to form a parliamentary group, and yet has achieved even more […]

Since last Dec., Vienna’s 10th District of Favoriten has once again been connected to the wider world, as the new Hauptbahnhof at Wiedner Gürtel opened its first section, and thousands of commuters and visitors flooded through the new station, easily recognisable from a distance by its dramatic, diamond-shaped roof. Ever since construction began in 2010, […]

They don’t shave their heads, tote swastikas or glorify the Nazis and the majority are educated. The “Identitären” represent a new right wing phenomenon in Europe. Initiated in France in 2003, it is a young movement that has spread eastwards but also west to the United Kingdom. On 25 February at Café Tirolerhof, the chairman […]

Every year at the end of January, a “happening” takes place on the streets of Vienna’s inner districts that might seem strange to the eyes of visitors (see TVR, Feb. 2012). While inside the Hofburg, right-wing politicians and friends are taking the floor at what until last year was called the Wiener Korporations-Ball, on the […]

THE VIENNA REVIEW is a publication of Vienna Review Publishing GmbH, Vienna, Austria, a journal of news, culture, lifestyle and opinion covering the life and times of Vienna, Austria and the wider Central Europen region. It is published in English.